You can find a fair few games in 4K, but if you want to play PC games on your big screen TV, you better hope the visuals can synchronise properly. Now, depending on the brand you have, they just might.
PC gamers usually have to think about their gaming experience a little differently from others. While they may have to worry about whether their graphics card is at high enough level for the resolution they plan to play at, they also have to worry about the entire spec list of their gaming box.
It’s very different from playing a console, where the game developer has worked with the console maker to find the best experience with no tweaking needed. On the computer, a gamer will need to match their spec list with what a game can do, customising the game’s settings and performance so that it renders in a way that is compatible with their performance, and it’s not the only concern.
Computer configurations and displays sometimes don’t play nicely in those games, which is why gamers will have picked specific graphics cards and monitors to negate this issue. Depending on the combination you have, you might just find a screen will synchronise in time with the game’s screens, and you won’t see as much flicker or image tearing, whereby the visuals in the games almost flick over strip by strip by strip.
The right combination of parts is something that has never quite worked with TVs, because those synchronisation technologies may not play nicely with a TV you buy. There are two main synchronisation technologies, one in Nvidia’s G-Sync and the other in AMD’s FreeSync, and while you can find a handful of TVs in the latter, the former doesn’t appear to have had any. Bad luck if you use an Nvidia graphics card, we guess.
Though now that appears to be changing. LG has this week announced that many of its 2019 OLED TVs will see a firmware update this week to support Nvidia G-Sync, with the Nvidia visual synchronisation technology coming to the B9, C9, and E9 TVs, first in North America, followed by the rest of the markets, Australia included by the end of the year.
For Nvidia, it means owners of a GeForce GTX 16-series or GeForce RTX 20-series will be able to use an OLED TV to play their PC games, effectively bringing the hyper-fast PC made for 4K gaming and higher back to the living room, or to even bring an oversized TV as a monitor to the bed room.
“As the first TVs to offer Nvidia G-Sync compatible support in the industry, LG is once again demonstrating its commitment to delivering the most advanced gaming experience,” said LG’s Sam Kim.
“Our partnership with Nvidia, the world’s premiere gaming hardware brand, are helping our 2019 OLED TVs set a new standard in gaming performance.”
Local TVs should see support for the G-Sync upgrade in the coming weeks with a firmware update delivered to the TV. We’re checking to find out whether this will affect older TVs or even models in the premium wallpaper range.
